Friday, May 18, 2012

Bike to work day

Today was bike to work day and I normally commute on Friday anyhow so I participated albeit without registering. There were noticeably more people out, particularly in small groups, although not many more than on a nice weekend day: fewer pedestrians though. I wore my new kit, which consists of the bib shorts and jersey of the 2008 Finnish champion (from team Francaise Des Jeux), blue/white helmet, blue gloves, white shoes, and my blue/white bike.

A skinny-tire caught my wheel shortly after I hooked up to the W&OD trail and we paced each other most of the way into DC. It was nice although for the first couple miles I didn't keep his wheel because he was a bit more brazen with rolling through stops. We had a pretty nice pace for the latter half of my ride. He was commuting from Ashburn, which is a sight farther than my own ride.

The ride home was a little rough, but the worst of it came near the end. Shortly after I got back onto the streets from the trail I was passed by a black BMW and the passenger yelled, "Get off the road %$#hole!" I have read that this is rather common, and so is having things thrown at you or being buzzed. The latter two constitute assault with a deadly weapon (vehicle) and can be brought to court.

Since I was only verbally harassed I decided to give a little back. So I chased the car down to the next stop light, pulled alongside, and yelled, "I have as much a right to the road as you!" The passenger, a young man, pretended not to hear because the window was up; the young girl driving seemed either embarrassed or amused, or maybe both. I went off to another lane to resume my ride. The same car passed me again a little later. Some people suck.

2 comments:

There is a possibility, albeit small, that the passenger was actually telling the driver about a similar thing that happened to him while bike riding. And just as they were passing you, the passenger reached the climatic point of his story, in which some jerk buzzed him while shouting "Get off the road ampersanddollardollarhole!" A very unfortunate circumstance indeed.